Donald Trump will kick off the sixth season casting search of NBC's "The Apprentice" by personally interviewing applicants at Universal Studios in Hollywood on Friday, March 10 -- the first stop of a 17-city tour to find the next "Apprentice." For the first time in the history of the show, "The Apprentice" will leave Manhattan and move to southern California for season six, which shoots this summer and airs in fall 2006. Season five of "The Apprentice" is currently airing Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.

"People who want to challenge themselves in the ultimate business competition should definitely come apply," said executive producer Donald Trump. "They'll be facing a whole new series of twists, turns and challenges when we take 'The Apprentice' to southern California."

Trump will also interview applicants in person at the New York City casting call, slated for March 24 at Trump Tower, and casting directors will visit 15 other cities throughout March and April.

Prospective applicants should: be able to take risks, bounce back after failing, succeed in a cutthroat environment, go against the tide, remain focused, think creatively and be a leader. Interested candidates should complete the online application form (www.nbc.com) and apply for one of the most coveted jobs in the country.

Interviews will take place in the following cities. For all casting calls, wristbands are distributed at 9 AM and at 10 AM interviews will begin, with the exception of Los Angeles and New York, where wristbands will be distributed at 8 AM and interviews will begin at 9 AM. Candidates should bring a completed application to the open calls, which they can download from www.nbc.com.

Candidates must be legally eligible to work in the United States and live in the United States; must be at least 21 years of age; must be in excellent physical and mental health; must not now be a candidate for public office and must agree not to become one until six months after initial broadcast of all programs in which you appear, if selected as a player.

Prospective candidates, if selected to be interviewed, must complete, sign and return (prior to the date of your personal interview) a completed interview Agreement Package that includes a Background Questionnaire Form and authorization to obtain background information from third parties, among other agreements.

"The Apprentice" is produced by Mark Burnett Productions in association with Trump Productions LLC. Mark Burnett, Donald Trump and Jay Bienstock are executive producers. Conrad Riggs and Page Feldman are co-executive producers.

To avoid diluting the franchise, Donald Trump's next 'Apprentice' won't appear until January.

There will only be one cycle of "The Apprentice" on NBC's airwaves next season, and that's cool with star Donald Trump.

"It was always going to be one event, like 'American Idol,'" Trump said yesterday, after NBC programmers revealed the reality show won't be back until January. "But because it became so successful, we had it on twice."

Now, after seeing ratings for the show decline this season, NBC will air just one version, shot in Los Angeles. It will start in January and play out until the spring.

"If you think about it," Trump said, "including the Martha [stewart] fiasco, we had three seasons of 'The Apprentice' this year."

Cutting back to just one is the same strategy ABC used to try to revive "The Bachelor" this season, after viewers grew weary of multiple editions each year. NBC officials and Trump agree that adding the Stewart version earlier this season diluted the franchise and confused viewers.

"'The Apprentice' is one of the most successful shows on our air," said NBC Entertainment president Kevin Reilly yesterday. "It just settled in from being a phenomenon to being a success."

It also remains a big show with upscale viewers.

For next season, Trump and the show's executive producer, Mark Burnett, plan to shake up the format a bit. Trump, his wife, Melania, and new son Barron will soon move to Los Angeles for the five-week production schedule of cycle No. 6 of "The Apprentice."

To accommodate the Los Angeles production, the June 5 finale of the current New York-shot "Apprentice" will emanate from the West Coast, Trump said yesterday.

The billionaire is signed up to appear on the show through its seventh run. He said yesterday that it was too early to begin talking beyond that, but Reilly said it was unlikely the show would continue without him.

"At this point, it's really clear they're inseparable," Reilly said. "He does have a special brand of credibility and color to be able to do it."

NBC has given Donald Trump the go-ahead for a seventh round of The Apprentice, to follow the first-ever Los Angeles-based edition (premiering in January 2007). "We may do it in Las Vegas or Miami," Trump tells Variety. "We'll make that decision in two months." This very well may be the first Apprentice to base a task around tassels.

Posted by Matt Mitovich 06/20/2006 8:37 AM

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OOh thats cool I agree sam there should of been casted a more recognizable olympian. By the way just out of curiosity whats the age cutoff for the apprentice. Im just saying my dad would bee good on there i mean cause he works alot he wouldnt try out though just curious for age cutoff. I remember one time my cousin tried out for the apprentice as a joke so he could write a story for a magazine he was writing for.

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The Donald is at again. The charismatic, outspoken real estate mogul will launch sales for a second Las Vegas Trump Tower early next year to coincide with the new season of "The Apprentice."

The hit NBC 'reality television' show pits business hopefuls against another to win a job within The Trump Organization. The Donald, as master entrepreneur, eliminates a candidate a week with the withering catchphrase: "You're fired." In the final episode, however, one person lands a year-long assignment and accompanying six-figure salary as The Donald's "apprentice."

The show's sixth season will debut in January, focusing exclusively on Las Vegas, according to an source close to the show. Candidates will be asked to develop a marketing plan for Trump's next local condo-hotel tower. The season is reportedly finished taping, though the outcome of its finale still remains a mystery.

"Branding is important, but so is timing," said Jack Christie, Trump's vice president of marketing and sales. "We hope to begin sales on phase two after the season premiere of 'The Apprentice.'"

"The Apprentice," as such, could become an infomercial for Trump's new expansion plans. The show has drawn up to 20 million viewers, which could translate into very valuable advertising airtime. "It's brilliant marketing and we continue to find the Trump name strong," said Bruce Hiatt, owner of Luxury Realty Group. "His name continues to draw a huge premium."

The new tower will be located alongside the $500 million Trump Tower, currently under construction behind the New Frontier Hotel and Casino. The 64-story, gold-glass, high-rise tower will have 1,282 condo-hotel units, two restaurants, a pool deck and an 800-space parking garage. It's expected to finish in early 2008.

Trump International Hotel & Tower Las Vegas is a joint-venture development between New Frontier owner Phil Ruffin and Jack Wishna, a dealmaker who brought the two together. Perini Building is the general contractor.

Trump Tower I sold out in under a week, despite prices of $600,000 to $6 million. A handful of units have since become available due to cancellations. The 645-foot-tall high rise will contain studios and one-, two- and three-bedroom residences, including penthouse suites. Units range from 565 square feet to 1,057 square feet in size, although some units can merge to create a 1,693-square-foot suite.

"The second tower will be a mirror image of the first in height, size and appearance," said Christie. "But it will likely have more meeting-room space and studio units."

Tower II, unlike its predecessor, will go directly to sales with no reservation period, an indicator of the vitality of the luxury condo market. Developers previously had an unspecified reservation period, entailing a deposit followed by hard contract sales.

The conversion rate from reservations to sales varies dramatically, depending on the project, but 50 percent or higher is generally considered strong within the industry. The two-step process was intended to give lenders confidence about a project's pent-up demand. Most banks won't underwrite a high-rise unless roughly 70 percent of its units are under contract.

"Only 25 percent of the 66,751 condo and condo-hotel units currently planned are expected to be built by 2010," said John Restrepo, principal of Restrepo Consulting Group, a Las Vegas real estate-research firm. "Projects with experienced, well-financed developments teams with strong locations and good branding are the ones more likely to succeed."

Trump, who is synonymous with his brand, has seen strong success with his projects that bear his name. An experienced mega-developer, Trump earned his reputation after changing New York's skyline with projects like Trump Tower, the St. Moritz and the Grand Hyatt Hotel, among others. Trump Las Vegas, meanwhile, has the added advantage of being a condo-hotel, dual-use product that attracts a wider range of buyers, including second-home owners and investors.

"For the Strip resorts, there is little downside to condo hotels," Restrepo said. "It's essentially a way of having buyers finance a room expansion."

To avoid diluting the franchise, Donald Trump's next 'Apprentice' won't appear until January.

There will only be one cycle of "The Apprentice" on NBC's airwaves next season, and that's cool with star Donald Trump.

"It was always going to be one event, like 'American Idol,'" Trump said yesterday, after NBC programmers revealed the reality show won't be back until January. "But because it became so successful, we had it on twice."

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Hey y'all, I accidentally found the videos for contestants for this season. I went to the apprentice six website: http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_6/ and saw they were advertising a clip of all the greatest firings in apprentice history (didn't find it). So I clicked it and the nbc video player came up. It asked me to select something from the right so I selected "primetime" then I selected "Apprentice" followed by "season 6" then "contestants" and then video interviews of the contestants popped up

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Donald is smooth. I watched him on O'reilly and he mentioned nothing on Iraq. I watched him on Larry King Live and he constantly said Bush lied to go into war. O'reilly would chew him out for that, so Donald knows what he's doing.

From what I read, Carolyn is no longer with the Trump organization. Was she fired?

I never liked this show when it started, considered it to be a flawed reality show that was at the whim of Trump each week. But as dense as I might be, a couple of seasons back I finally figured out the magic trick behind the show: there are somewhere between 2-4 true apprentices on the show, and the rest have been cast so that they can be fired (of course they don't know that..I think). Trump is only evaluating those true candidates and looking for good timing to fire the rest one by one... And for this reason, I now enjoy watching the show; trying to figure who are the 2-4 individuals that have a real shot at the title. There are always 1-3 obvious sub-par candidates that are included, almost as a joke, simply because they make for good reality TV (conflict). In truth, if the best of the best were selected each season, it would likely be a very boring show, and each week obviously talented and deserving individuals would be fired, and picking the best could never be determined on a reality TV show.

For the first time ever in the history of NBC's "The Apprentice," viewers can get a sneak peek online at NBC.com and at Yahoo! (http://apprentice.yahoo.com) of the new season's premiere episode before it is broadcast on NBC. The first twenty minutes of "The Apprentice: Los Angeles," which premieres Sunday, January 7 (9:30-11 p.m. ET), can now be seen on both NBC.com and Yahoo! The series will return to its regular timeslot of Sundays, 9-10 p.m. ET, on January 14.

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Each year I used to wonder...given the vast number of ppl who applied to get on the show, how did some, shall we say, qustionable choices, get in??

And yes, I realize exactly what you just said. I believe Donald has a pretty sure idea from the beginning who he might want to hire--i.e. the best 2 or 3 in the group--and yes, the rest make for great TV.

And there are always distinct types: the whiner, the one no one can get along with, the laziest one, the hypochondriac, etc. etc.

And the others are stars...and one of the stars wins.

Donald is a smart businessman--he can hire without the subterfuge of a few-month TV show (in his words "the longest job interview"). If he does the TV route, he has to make it work, and he does. The trick is, at least for me, to enjoy it, and absolutely not take it seriously.